Revision as of 15:11, 4 October 2013

Purpose

A tool bar is a graphical presentation of commands optimized for fast access. Typically, a toolbar contains buttons that correspond to items in an application's menu, providing direct access to application's most frequently used functions.

A good menu bar is a comprehensive catalog of all the available top-level commands, whereas a good tool bar gives quick, convenient access to frequently used commands.

Examples

Guidelines

Is this the right control

For standard applications, apply a tool bar by default.

Provide a tool bar in addition to the menu bar, but do not replace the menu bar.

Behavior

A tool bar should contain only a few, frequently used operations. If the number of operations is above 5 they have to be grouped with separators. Not more than 3 of those sections should be implemented.

Do not abuse the tool bar to expose application's features. Only the most frequently functions should be add to the tool bar.

Execute operations immediately; do not require additional input from user.

Do not use menu buttons in tool bars. They do not fit well the concept of fast access.

Do not hide tool bars by default. If configurable, users should easily be able to make the tool bar viewable again.

Disable buttons that do not apply to the current context.

Consider to provide customization for tool bars in respect to position and content.

Appearance

Do not change the button style (QToolbar::toolButtonStyle) from the default. The default is currently text beside icons.

Use and design tool bar icons with special care. Users remember location of an object but rely as well on icon properties.

A distinct association between the underlying function and its visual depiction is crucial. Follow the advices for icon design.